The Paddington Foresters' Hall was designed by the Brisbane architect, Alexander Brown Wilson, and was built by W Taylor after his tender for £585 was accepted in May 1888.

Prior to the building of the Foresters' Hall in 1888, the court met at the former Methodist Church (no longer extant) at the corner of Given Terrace and Ranley Grove, Paddington.

The friendly societies came to Australia as part of the British philosophy of self-help and mutual aid which became prevalent during the industrial revolution.

The idea of fraternity and ritual formed an important element of the friendly societies as did the social activities that the individual branches provided for their members.

Its tradition is linked with the mythology of Robin Hood and this is reflected in the ritual, regalia, hierarchy and names of the individual courts.

[1] Foresters' Hall, which was established close to the junction of Given and Latrobe Terraces, commanded a prominent position within the growing township of Paddington.

Land sales were peaking and the foundations were being laid for Paddington to become a commuter suburb, transforming it from the sparsely populated semi-rural district of the 1860s and 70s.

Foresters' Hall is a legacy of this development boom and its long established position has made it a feature of the Paddington townscape.

In 1906 these included the local Independent Order of Rechabites, the Salvation Army, the Ithaca Ratepayers Association, the Women's Christian Charity and the Theodore Unmack Society of Masons.

[1] The original building specifications make reference to a verandah at the back of the hall with a staircase which led to rooms underneath the stage.

The land slopes steeply down towards the rear of the property allowing for a small residence to be constructed at basement level, beneath the main hall.

[1] Foresters' Hall is basically a rectangular form building set on concrete stumps and clad mainly with chamferboards, except at the rear where they have been replaced with weatherboards.

The corrugated iron hipped roof is hidden from the street a pedimented parapet that extends across the building's front and partially to each side.

In contrast, the front entry to the building is embellished by a pair of ornamented timber pilasters and wide solid panelled door.

External timber stairs and landings provide access to the building from the west side of the hall and to the basement level rooms.

On the east side of the vestibule, a slightly larger room has recently been created by the erection of a timber lined wall separating the area from the main hall.

Access to the rooms is via a set of recently constructed timber stairs approached from the narrow footpath on the building's western boundary.

The building is also of interest for its role as part of the 1880s development boom which transformed Paddington from a semi-rural area into a commuter suburb of Brisbane.

The hall with its interesting architectural details, offers a strong aesthetic contribution to Latrobe Terrace and the suburb of Paddington as a dominant feature of the streetscape and townscape.

Despite a change of ownership to the Hamilton Lodge of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes in 1976, the hall had continuous use as a friendly society meeting place until 1996.